Published 3:04 pm, Wednesday, January 22, 2014

STAMFORD -- A Stamford man pleaded guilty to running an $800,000 scheme involving the fraudulent purchase of computer parts Wednesday at U.S. District Court in New Haven.

Craig Stanland, 40, waived his right to trial and entered the guilty plea to one count of mail fraud. He faces as much as 20 years in prison when he is sentenced April 21.

Stanland, a former account manager for NEC, a partner of Cisco Systems, Inc., was accused of making hundreds of fraudulent requests to Cisco for replacement parts from October 2012 until October 1, 2013. He had 18 service contracts for Cisco networking parts and ordered the parts under a variety of aliases, getting them sent to his home in Stamford, his wife's office in Brooklyn, N.Y. and two post office boxes in Greenwich, according to court documents.

Upon receiving the new computer parts, Stanland sold them and pocketed the money, court documents show.

Prosecutors estimate that Stanland obtained nearly 600 parts under false pretenses, and the total loss to Cisco was about $834,307.

Stanland was arrested on Oct. 1, 2013 and has been free on $100,000 bond since his arrest.